//------------------------------// // Chapter 44: Final Farewells // Story: World of Chaos // by ugugg93 //------------------------------// Just like the last time that she had powered up the Elements, Rarity's vision went completely white with energy. She felt both the magic inside of her and the magic of the Elements flow through her entire being, desperately working for a way out of her body. Finally, as if Twilight herself commanded it, the magic poured out of her, and rocketed its way towards where Twilight floated. Rarity wasn't entirely certain if it was the same feeling for the rest of the girls, but she had a fairly good guess that this was the case. Unlike the last time that they had used the Elements, Rarity was able to make out the deafening sounds of the massive discharge of energy from the de facto leader of their group. More and more magic surged out of the mares and the artifacts, and unerringly raced towards the monstrous Discord in its path. While just moments before Rarity was a little worried that the draconequus would once again fire off a spell to derail their efforts, once they got their own spell off, she knew that there was no way he was getting out of this situation. The explosion of power only lasted a few seconds until the energy started to clear up. Just like that the light cleared, and the unicorn was able to see what had happened. There Discord stood—his paw held high above his eyebrow in salute—in all of his statuesque glory. Rarity's body was just beginning to lower back to the ground after the world changing attack when the energetic whoops and hollers from Rainbow Dash entered her ears. “We did it!!! Yeah!!!” Applejack landed the very tips of her hind legs onto the ground, and quickly moved to correct a slight stumble in her step. “Ah reckon we did, Sugarcube!” Twilight charged her horn up—how the mare had any magic left in her at all, Rarity would never know—and quickly took Pinkie's entire body into her magical grasp so that the mare didn't have to land on her hind legs. Now floating in the air, Pinkie lethargically grumbled, “And good riddance, you meanie.” Fluttershy flapped her wings in earnest and excitement, and in her glee brought Rainbow into a tight hug. “Oh, I’m so happy everything's alright!” Rarity didn't bother to say anything. Instead, she immediately began galloping through the muddy ground. With the sky now completely clear of any rain and clouds, she raced towards the largest member of their little group. Faster and faster she ran, until she found herself right up against Spike's side. She began to come up to his face, and as she bent down on the horrendously soggy ground, she began to hear the rest of her friends beginning to run closer to join her as the mares realized that Spike was still hurt. Placing her head close to his snout, Rarity whispered, “Are you awake?” The once fearsome and awe inspiring dragon in the mud before her let out a pained cough, he never opening his eyes. Again, and a tiny bit more urgency, Rarity asked, “Please, darling, are you awake?” This time, Spike opened his eyes, and even though one of them showed nothing but a light red color of the socket behind it—the eyepatch covering the ruined eye long since lost in the battle—his other socket still bore the deep emerald eye. Still, as wonderful as it was to see her friend awake, his eyes were only half open in a sure sign of his slowly draining strength. “Yes... yes I am...” By this point, Twilight had come up next to Rarity, and placing herself on the ground next to the formerly white mare, began stroking his deep purple snout. “Be still. We'll find you some ponies to help you out, alright? Just... just be still, Spike.” Spike groaned with a little bit of pain, but quickly fell into a much more quiet demeanor. “Spike... Spike... you know, for the first time in over a thousand years, I think... I think I like being called that name again...” Slightly confused about what he meant by that, Rarity was just about to ask when she heard Rainbow interrupt their conversation. “Hey, girls, do you hear that?” Rarity perked her ears up a little bit, trying to hear whatever Rainbow had just mentioned. Swiveling her ears around her in an attempt to pinpoint any out-of-place noises, she eventually looked at Twilight in confusion. The unicorn locked eyes with her shortly after, and with a shake of the head, Twilight turned back to the pegasus. “Hear what, Rainbow? I don't hear anything.” “Exactly,” Rainbow said as she hovered slightly above them. “There aren't any noises. The battle... it stopped...” The alabaster mare took a second to look up and around, and realized that Rainbow was right. The battle that was once raging in earnest just a few minutes before had completely stopped. The sky itself was still filled with pegasi, but none were actually trying to kill each other anymore, and larger groups were now only flying around in wide orbiting circles for unknown reasons. Down on the ground, it was hard to see over the mud and the body of Spike, but from what Rarity could see, the few ponies closest to her had stopped attempting to get to the enemy, and were now confusingly trying to figure out what happened. Indeed, for all appearances, they didn't have any idea what was going on either. “I think...” Fluttershy started, a frog in her throat at first. Softly, she coughed a few times into her hoof, before she lowered herself down onto the ground, and began again. “I think it's the same reason that the rain stopped. Since Discord is now trapped in stone, he doesn't have control of his magic anymore, including—” “—those 'zombie pony' things,” Applejack finished for her, instinctively reaching for her hat, even though the headpiece wasn't there. Spike tried to shift himself slightly on the ground, but didn't move more than a few inches before giving up and laying back down in the large puddle his body had created—a puddle that Rarity mentally noted was just made of the rainwater. “Very astute...” Everypony was silent for a time, each trying to process the information that was being bombarded into their minds right now. Rainbow Dash had now joined Fluttershy—the pair leaning up against one another for both physical and emotional support. Applejack had walked over to the airborne Pinkie, and was doing her best to check on her legs as Pinkie was attempting to do little flips and turns as her energy returned. As for Rarity and Twilight, they were merely laying with Spike, doing their best to keep him calm and happy. However, there was another thought that was on her mind at the time. One that she couldn't keep silenced any longer. “So... now that Discord is gone, does that mean you are now the ruler of all of—” “Wooooow!” Pinkie interrupted with a surprising amount of energy, causing all of the ponies to look in her direction. Pinkie was now pointing slightly into the sky. “Look! Look! What's that!?” Rarity followed the mare's hoof, and found that it pointed towards the cave that the ponies had started this day. They weren't able to see the entrance from this angle, but what they were able to see was a blindingly bright ray of pure light breaking through the entrance of the cavern. Considering the way that the entrance tunnel was curved and how the mares weren't able to even see inside from here, it must have been a force of tremendous power. With a sudden burst of intensity, a luminous object came into view, and with speeds that even the likes of Rainbow Dash could only dream of, rocketed high into the sky above. Higher and higher the ball of energy climbed, until it became a daytime star in the sky. Apparently reaching its apex, it slowly began arcing across the sky, slowly moving more and more until it moved in front of the sun itself. In fact, near the end, Rarity—water filling her her eyes—was forced to look away from the physically painful sight. However, she heard Twilight begin to stammer, “Is... is.... is that...” Rarity—still with tears in her eyes from looking at the sun—could almost hear Fluttershy nod her head. “Yes... yes it is...” After another few seconds, Rarity was finally able to get the tears out of her eyes, and was finally able to will herself to look back up into the sky. High above, she couldn't make out where the object from before went, but if she had to guess, it was in front of the blazing sun. Putting a hoof over her eyes to block out whatever light she could, Rarity again did her best to look into the blinding light. Looking into the sun wasn't the best idea she'd had, yet the curiosity of what was going on got the better of her, and she braved the pain. The sky flashed brighter for just a moment, before the alabaster unicorn saw that the sun was now obscured by something else. It was a massive object that was almost as bright as the sun, and was slowly descending towards the girls. It only took a few seconds for the object to gently flap her wings to stabilize her slow fall, and with the most elegant of steps, brought her four hooves to the ground. Her mane blowing despite the still air, Princess Celestia looked around a the six ponies, inspecting the situation before her. The princess, eyes wide in apparent confusion, began. “What... how... how are you six... what's...” Her eyes then fell upon the massive, barely moving dragon in front of her, and her ears folded flat against her head. “So... your voice wasn't a dream then...” Spike's eyes flew open, and with a face of complete confusion to match Celestia's—along with a little bit of shock to match the six mares—he gathered the strength the stammer, “You... you were able to hear me?” Princess Celestia took a few steps forward, her voice slightly hushed. “Every word. For so long, everything was quiet. Dark. Then one day... I thought I heard a vaguely familiar voice. Spike's voice.” She lowered her head, shook it slightly in what was either despair or exhaustion—it was hard to tell—before she rose it again. “I heard him... I heard him speaking to me for so... so long. Nothing specific usually, but just... talking. Is... is that true?” By this point, Spike's eyes had lost the burst of energy they had just had, and they slowly closed to their half open state. “I tried to talk to you every day I could. I admit.... it was more for me than anything else, but... well... why not talk to you?” “How long,” Princess Celestia instantly asked, not pausing to even acknowledge any of the other ponies. “How long?” Spike coughed a few times as a tiny amount of blood still oozed from the terrible wound in his back. “If you meant how long I... I had your body in my possession, nine hundred seventy-three years, give... give or take a few months. If you meant how... how long I had been talking to you, I would say closer to seven hundred, but that day is a little less memorable to me than the first. As for if you meant how long it has been since I talked to you last... umm... I believe it was two weeks ago.” Spike paused for a few seconds—taking a few shallow breaths—before finishing. “I apologize for... for not talking to you for so long. I was... kinda busy trying to save the world and all.” Celestia's eyes were wide with awe at this, but still, she said, “Spike... there is absolutely no reason to be sorry, my most cherished of friends.” The Princess turned away, took a long look at the world around her, then smiled. “And yes. It does seem you were saving the world.” “Yeah... yay... for me...” Finally, the alicorn turned back to the girls, and with the most genuine of smile, looked at the six mares before her. Each time the princess looked in her direction, Rarity wasn't sure whether she should bow before the regal pony, greet her, weep, or maybe try to motion towards Twilight in some way. Alas, Rarity found her muscles frozen, her tongue swollen, and her eyes slightly glazed over. Before anypony else could say anything, Princess Celestia looked over to the other unicorn of their group, and gave the largest smile she had ever seen out of the Princess. “Twilight Sparkle...” It was then that at last Twilight found her legs, for she instantly sprang to her hooves, and with a speed that even Applejack would approve of, tore towards her mentor. So caught up with emotion, Twilight instinctively released Pinkie from her magical grasp to focus fully on running to her second mother. Fortunately Rarity was able to gather her wits in time to catch the mare before she hit the ground, the pink pony's eyes growing a few sizes larger upon the sudden two inch drop. Twilight then leaped off of the ground, and with tears in the young mare's eyes, wrapped her muddy forelegs around the perfectly white alicorn's neck, and cried. The two stayed in their mutual embrace for a long time. Long enough for Rarity to bring Pinkie closer to her, sheathe her sword, and then turn back to Spike to begin to stroke his snout in an attempt to try and do what she could to comfort his pain. As she did all of these things, she did her best to give the two—student and teacher, daughter and mother—the peace and privacy they deserved. It wasn't much, but it was the best she could do. Princess Celestia's regal voice was the first one to return. “I missed you so much, my most faithful student.” “I missed you too,” Twilight sobbed Lowering herself onto the ground—the mud now completely tarnishing the alicorn's white belly—she gently nuzzled Twilight's cheek with her own. “You know, for all the times that I heard Spike speak to me, I never felt so thrilled as the first time I heard your voice, even if it was the most hateful thing I have ever heard you say.” Twilight pulled back a little, and folded her ears against her head. “You... you heard that?” “'For vengeance' is a fairly bold thing to say, Twilight Sparkle.” Celestia giggled a little bit before she nudged the mares chin with a forehoof. “Though I won't lie, if I saw you encased in stone like I was, I probably wouldn't have bothered with just saying it, and would've just gone straight to showing Discord what I meant.” “Heh, I’m sure you would've, Princess.” Twilight smiled even as she kept her ears folded to her head. Standing back onto her hooves, Rarity saw that the unicorn quickly found herself stumbling over her hooves, and nearly falling back on the ground—Celestia's massive wing suddenly supporting her was now the only thing to stop her from falling. “Whoa... I feel... weird...” Before Celestia could reply, a dull thud was heard to Rarity's right. Upon looking over, she saw that Applejack had fallen to a sitting position—though from the way she was swaying back and forth, she probably should've laid down instead. Somewhat slowly, Applejack said, “So do Ah, Sugarcube...” As she began to feel a strong sense of light headedness herself, Rarity carefully used her magic to set Pinkie down on her side, so that the mare's weight was not on her broken hind legs. Softly, Pinkie squeaked, “What's going on?” Princess Celestia carefully picked Twilight up onto her back, and with careful steps, began to walk closer to the rest of the mares. “I remember that recently, Spike told me that Discord's magic mixed, fused, or somehow morphed the Elements' magic, forcing you mares to be shunted into this time. Did he tell you this as well?” Considering that Twilight was not one to comment right now—the mare too busy trying to get her bearings from atop Celestia's back—Rarity spoke up the best she could. “Well... I think he did say something about how Discord's magic interfered with the Elements' magic or something similar to that, but it was so long ago.” “If that is correct, my most generous of ponies,” Princess Celestia drew near, and with a gentle shift of her weight, lowered Twilight onto the ground, “then with Discord's spell gone, the spell interfering with the Elements' protective spell is no long binding you mares. It must be an unnatural feeling indeed to have such a long lasting spell broken.” “No... that's not it...” Rarity looked at Twilight—the mare's head now perked up slightly again. “What do you mean, 'that's not it'?” Twilight pulled herself a little bit closer to Spike, before she joined Rarity in her careful strokes. “Well... it's only half it. Remember Rarity, the day Discord first visited Spike in his cave, I discovered that one spell that was blocking us from traveling through time? The one I said Discord couldn't have been the source of? Well... what if that spell WAS the spell that Discord shot at us long ago, and now that he's gone, the Elements are trying to fix what happened... and bring us back?” Fluttershy tumbled slightly, but was caught by Rainbow. Of course, Rainbow wasn't able to support both of their weight for long, and they both soon found themselves lying on the ground with the rest of the mares. “We're... we're going home?” “Good,” Spike muttered, his voice catching Rarity off guard slightly. Rarity's forehoof no longer on his snout, he continued, “You mares are allowed to leave this Tartarus of a world, and return to your own.” Before Rarity could reply, a new voice—one belonging to Captain Wilks—appeared. “Lord... Lord Sarlaka?” Spike shifted his eye slightly, so that he looked past Rarity. “Captain... it is good to see you made it. How went... how went the battle?” Rarity turned around, and saw that Captain Wilks, even though he seemed wary with the presence of the massive unknown alicorn nearby, kept his stance steady. “We... well... we were barely holding our own, but all the sudden, they just... is that statue over there Discord!?” “Captain, I need you to pay attention, and pay attention well. I need you to go to the Generals, and let them know that Discord is defeated, and that I am claiming his throne. As my first act as ruler, I am immediately stepping down, and placing Princess Celestia—the being standing right next to you—in my place. Do you understand what I am saying?” He looked at the dragon long and hard, before slowly nodding. “I'll... I'll make sure it gets done.” “Good. Now go. You are no longer technically in my service.” Captain Wilks snapped to attention, and saluted anyway. “It was an honor serving under you, my Lord.” Spike did his best to nod himself. “And it was an honor to know you, Captain.” As quickly as he possibly could, Captain Wilks turned, and galloped away from the group to tell the various generals of Spike's request. Smiling to herself, Princess Celestia watched him run off. “Pity, I was hoping that I wouldn't have to be the one in charge this time around.” Spike snorted in humor. “Please, I don't want to even rule over a garden anymore. Besides, if I were to try to do that, it would be difficult to make sure you take your place peacefully, now wouldn't it? No, my time with you ponies is done.” “But darling... what about yourself? I thought you would want to be there with us? I thought you wanted to be with... well...” Rarity trailed off, before placed her hoof back on his snout, and resumed stroking his massive scales, this time with a little more force Spike weakly coughed a few times, before smiling slightly. “Of course I would like that... especially the second part, Milady. However... I don't think I am... going to able to do that. I think I am... I am going to... to see my sisters soon... instead...” “See your sisters soon? What do you me—” Rarity stopped moving, and felt her body chill as the implication of what he said just started to seep into her. She scrunched her eyes close, and more rapidly than she probably should've considering her dizziness, she began to shake her head in denial. Twilight went with a much more vocal approach. “What!? No! You can't! I won't... I won't let you!” “It's not a simple matter of whether you allow me go or not, Twilight Sparkle,” Spike quietly reprimanded. “I am a relic of more terrible times, and I would... only serve to remind ponies everywhere... of the absolute terror that Discord brought to everypony... everyday. Not only that, I am... a mass murderer to boot, regardless of whatever noble... yet stupid intentions I had when I com... committed those crimes. No, this is for the best.” Twilight shook her head. “That's not true...” “Besides, young Twilight, it doesn't matter too... too much anyway, now does it? If you go back, you will change the past, and none of this will even happen, now would it? You will change the future, I will... I will cease to exist anyway. Of course, even if the future doesn't change, then at least... at least you'll never see me ever again, so why worry? What is the point?” Tears had started to pour out of the lavender unicorn's eyes by now—an action shared by Rarity. “The point is I don't want to see you die...” Softly, Spike managed a strained laugh. “No mother does... want to see their son die I mean. Do not... do not worry... Twilight. I... I at least.... at least was able to... to finally redeem myself...” Twilight bent her head down, bringing the bridge of her muzzle against the dragon's snout, and began silently sobbing into his scales. Rarity was able to keep control of her emotions—albeit barely—and so she leaned forward, and planted the most heartfelt kiss that she had ever given anypony to his cheek. Leaning back, she smiled to the dragon before her, and whispered, “You have done more than redeem yourself, my sweet prince.” Spike blinked once, before his smile grew a tiny bit. “Prince Spike... does not quite roll off the tongue very well.” The dragon lethargically closed his eyes, and let his smile disappear. “However... I think I like how it sounds anyway...” Silence fell over the entire group. After that line, Spike didn't move—his smile and gaze no longer reacting to anything that Rarity said before. Twilight herself continued to sob into his scar-filled scales, staining the purple shards with her tears. Rarity's eyes had long since clouded over completely with salty tears, so that her vision was impaired from being able to monitor Spike's breathing. However, from what she could see, at best, his breathing was shallow... too shallow to be anything except ominous of his end. However, she quickly found herself lowering her head against his snout—both to comfort him and because of a sudden strong wave of dizziness. “I think the time draws near,” Princess Celestia whispered, her words carrying a double meaning that the alicorn may or may not have even been aware of. As if to confirm it, a dull thump of Applejack hitting the ground on her side entered Rarity's ears. That made every single mare now lying on the ground—Rainbow and Fluttershy long ago had fallen to the ground. Rarity couldn't blame any of them, for even though she was now laying down with her forehead against Spike's snout, she almost found herself somehow losing her balance and falling over. Instead, the mare did her best to focus on her position, for she absolutely refused to remove her contact from her prince. Softly, she heard Twilight whispering to Spike. “Spike... I'm... I'm sorry that I couldn't... that I couldn't save you. Just know... that I love you very... very much. I'm sure that you will be remembered forever as the hero you deserve to be remembered as.” Spike's eyes opened halfway, and with a small intake of air, the dragon deadpanned, “I am not dead yet, Twilight. Geez. At least... at least wait until I stop breathing to bury my broken corpse.” Rarity couldn't will herself to look up at Twilight's face—the dizziness was forcing Rarity to focus her entire being on the spot her head was touching—but she could just imagine the look of shock and confusion that was on the unicorn's face. Slowly, a small chuckle that sounded more like a snort mixed with a throaty sob pierced through the silence. The chuckle slowly transformed into a giggle, which then transformed into a full blown laugh, with all the over-the-top snorts and gasps for air to go along with it. The bad joke wasn't deserving of even half of the reaction, but considering everything that was going on, laughing was better than anything else they could've done. A wind began to pick up around her, sending her already ruined mane and tail into a frenzy. Twilight must have felt it too, for her laughs began to die down as the mare braced for the magic that would most likely soon form. It was then that Princess Celestia's voice was heard over the growing winds. “Oh, and girls, before I forget, please don't tell anypony about how you ponies went to the future like this. Even myself. I know it will be hard, but it is for the best that nopony knows what happened here. And Twilight, if you do have the urge to tell me... just mention my attempts to pickle onions. I'll understand what it means.” Those last few words were the last things that Rarity heard before the world once again went white, she felt herself slightly lifted off of the ground, and taken away from Spike. Before Rarity could even try to voice her objections to being taken away from him, she was gone, never to see the older dragon again. A/N: Here's to hoping that them "going back" doesn't look like deus ex machina. Also, only one last update until this story is done. Damn...